The Lords of Smoke (Los señores del humo)

Madrid. A series of crimes unfold in a strongly realistic and political context. A powerful corporation, cold cases resurfacing, four broken characters searching for their own path. From Claudio Cerdán, the acclaimed author of crime novels; a thriller full of action and shadows.

In a Madrid suffocated by corruption, where crime bleeds into power and misery, three broken men become trapped in the same spiral of violence and death. Paco Faura, a former police inspector, lives obsessed with solving the hit-and-run that left his wife in a coma. Sick and lonely, he accepts a dirty job: to uncover secrets about the owners of land destined for the EuroVegas project and pressure them into selling. There he finds a buried skull belonging to a woman who disappeared decades ago. Despite the mounting pressure, he decides to investigate, convinced there is something more behind the discovery.

Meanwhile, CJ, a mercenary in the service of tycoon Harrelson Levy, owner of EuroVegas, becomes the bodyguard of Larry Levy, his psychopathic son. In Madrid, CJ reconnects with Percy de la Cruz, a war comrade devastated by drugs and the shared trauma of Afghanistan. At the same time, Aldo, a Mexican pimp drowning in cocaine, tries to escape with Galya, a Russian prostitute. But his plan collapses when Galya turns up decapitated.

Galya’s murder becomes the convergence point of the three stories. CJ, convinced there is more behind the killing, begins by investigating Percy, but the clues lead him to Aldo. Aldo, for his part, is convinced Galya was murdered by Russian hitmen hired by Miguel, a Mexican drug trafficker he once worked for. Faura finds parallels between Galya’s death and the skull discovered at EuroVegas. The web of suspicions explodes when CJ breaks into Aldo’s home ready to kill him. Faura, who had planted microphones, intervenes just in time. From then on, the three men begin a forced collaboration to uncover the truth.

The pieces fall into place when they discover that Larry Levy has been using Percy as the executioner of a series of murders designed to sabotage the EuroVegas project and destroy his own father. CJ is captured, tortured, and decapitated on Larry’s orders, who sends the video to Faura as a warning. Faura, on the verge of being killed as well, manages to kill Percy in a final confrontation. Meanwhile, Aldo completes his revenge against the Russian mobsters and the hitman Miguel, but ends up wandering through Madrid until he is arrested, becoming the scapegoat for all the crimes.

RELEVANT INFORMATION: Claudio Cerdán (Murcia, 1981) is a Spanish writer regarded as one of the great renovators of the contemporary Spanish-language noir genre. He has won the Ciudad de Santa Cruz Prize, the Novelpol Prize, and the Negra y Mortal Prize— all for Best Novel of the Year— and has been a finalist for many others, such as the Valencia Negra, Tenerife Noir, and Semana Negra de Gijón. His prose has been compared to Don Winslow, James Ellroy, and Dennis Lehane.

Los señores del humo is an addictive thriller that combines espionage, social critique, and action with an ensemble plot led by broken, unforgettable characters. Thanks to exhaustive research and meticulous realism, the novel offers a powerful and credible atmosphere for the development of a story with enormous audiovisual potential.

Its ensemble structure stands out, with three protagonists advancing through independent storylines until they converge in a shared plot. Each character offers a strong and complex emotional arc, and the pacing is agile, with constant twists, sustained tension, and a dramatic progression that allows for a thriller both addictive and deep. Set in a dark and corrupt Madrid, the story blends crime, politics, human trafficking, and war trauma with a highly recognizable social backdrop, giving it a compelling layer of realism and critique.

What the press says:

“This book should be read and widely recommended, a truly remarkable novel that will delight its readers if they let themselves be carried even just a little. Don’t miss it.” – Sergio Torrijos (Calibre 38)

AUDIOVISUAL POTENTIAL: TV Series, Miniseries, Film, TV Film.

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES: Spanish.